The season always ends in tears. It’s just a matter of when and how. For the Stratford Warriors, it came Sunday afternoon in Game 6 of their Midwestern Conference semifinal as the Waterloo Siskins scored three late goals to break a 2-2 tie and advance to the Cherrey Cup final against Listowel with a 5-2 victory. Cue the bowed heads, red eyes and hugs as players, coaches and staff slowly filed out of a stifling dressing room at the Waterloo rec complex.

“It’s not easy,” Warriors head coach Dave Williams said. “The public doesn’t get to see how hard these guys work behind the scenes. We’re at the rink usually five or six times a week. I know everybody sees us on a Friday night play a game, but there’s so much more work that goes into it that. These guys are a committed group of young men that juggle hockey, school, work, being in the gym, and trying to be the best hockey player they can be.”

Against Waterloo, neither team could seize momentum for more than two games. The Siskins opened the series with a pair of wins, while Stratford turned the tables in games three and four.

Friday’s Game 5 victory at the Allman gave the Siskins a chance to clinch on home ice two days later, and they didn’t disappoint most of the 1,218 in attendance. Winston Cestnick scored the winner with 4:34 left in the third, finding a lane to the net and going high over Zack Weir’s blocker.

If there was any doubt, Owen Lane removed it 71 seconds later when he slid the puck five-hole on a breakaway. Matthew Prucha added an empty-netter.

“They’re a good hockey team,” Williams said. “We didn’t think the series wasn’t going to be as tough as it was. It’s playoff hockey, things happen. I think where we maybe did struggle a little bit too was scoring five-on-five. Sometimes you gotta give credit to the other team that they’re working equally as hard on the other side to not to allow you to score.”

Michael Keating and Alex Lycett had Waterloo’s other goals. Matt Onuska was the first star after making 41 saves.

Stratford never led in what Williams called their best game of the playoffs.

Nick Jung’s penalty shot marker pulled the Warriors even in the second period, and Tyson Kielt flipped the puck past Onuska midway through the third to make it 2-2.

It was the final game for both 1998-born players. Weir, Dylan Lebold, Sean Ross, Ryan Cullen and Corson Searles also saw their junior careers end.

“I think it’s always with mixed emotions. The first thing is you have a great appreciation for the contribution they’ve made to the organization … that they’ve been good players, good teammates and really good ambassadors for our program, and think that’s first and foremost when you lose guys like that you want to make sure you replace them with guys of equal character and values. I guess that’s part of the game is you’re in the game long enough you know guys are going to age out or guys are going to move on because they become better hockey players. It’s a sad part of the game, but a big part is I think what the game does allow is in the right dressing room or the right spot, these guys form lifelong friendships and I have no doubt the guys in this dressing room have formed great bonds with each other – the old guys, the young guys – and going forward they’ll never be that far apart from one another.”

NOTES: Waterloo went 1-for-3 on the power play, and Stratford went 0-for-3 … Jung’s goal came while shorthanded … Kam Shearer led the Warriors in playoff scoring with six goals and 12 points … Reid Oliver filled in on Stratford’s defence in place of Mitchell Casey, who was out with an injury.